Torrevieja Town Hall has to pay €48,000 to a Local Police officer who was bullied at work since 2004

Evidence from documents, medical records and witnesses indicate it was not an isolated incident

A judicial sentence has condemned Torrevieja Town Hall to pay €48,000 to a Local Police officer who denounced the council for not doing anything about the repeated bullying he had been suffering at work since the year 2004. Mayor José Manuel Dolón explained at a press conference that with interest and court costs the sum could rise to €60,000.

He said this judicial decision repeatedly talks of “completely inappropriate conduct and those who were governing looked the other way”. This was especially serious because “the circumstances caused physical and mental damage to people’s health, which sometimes can last for ever” and because the police are supposed to have “better values”. He noted it is very difficult for a person working under the circumstances described to do their duty properly.

Dolón assured the sentence is backed up by evidence from documents, medical records and witnesses that indicates this was not an isolated incident. He read out a part that said the psychological bullying over a long period of time caused the victim to suffer from a mental disorder and depression.

The mayor accused the PP (Partido Popular) who ran the council at the time of “complicity” because “they allowed it to go on” and insisted, “someone is responsible here” because “knowing the facts they did nothing about it”.

An appeal against the sentence is possible but the mayor said, although they will look into it it is “very difficult to contradict”, especially as the Town Hall has “more cases of this style with guilty verdicts”.

He assured he wants to “put an end to this type of behaviour, especially in the Local Police”. There will be a meeting this week with the Workplace Risks Department that will deal exclusively with anti-bullying protocol, which is one of the things that the sentence demands. He said there will be specialists there from outside the Town Hall who are coming to adapt the current protocol to what is required by the legislation. With this measure the mayor hopes it will be a useful tool to help people who are suffering from situations like this.